§ MR. SHEEHAN (Cork Co., Mid.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the principal teacher of the Berrings Male National School obtained second class in 1897, subsequently entered training in 1899, and passed with special distinction in column 3 in 1900; will he say if this teacher was then entitled to first class; and, if not, when would he had the old rules remained in force, and would he be entitled to first class salary now; and whether, seeing that the new rules state expressly that teachers in training during the session 1899–1900 would be specially considered when their salaries came to be revised, and that this teacher has suffered substantial pecuniary loss by the introduction of the new rules, he will give his case special consideration.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) This teacher was placed in the second division of second class in 1897; he entered training in 1899, and in 1900 was advanced to the first division of the second 1245 class in accordance with rules then in force. Under these rules he would have been entitled to rank in the first class after the lapse of two years of highly efficient service. He became a principal teacher from 1st May, 1903. Consideration of the question of an increase to the salary he had been previously receiving was deferred until he had served a year's probation as principal in conformity with the regulations on the subject. It will be reconsidered at the termination of that period.